A Hand Written Letter

The following is a hand written letter posted on the wall at the house. Neatly penned, though towards the end the ink is smeared, and the paper tear stained.

Synopsis of Rally Day

Brief synopsis of current events/ where we currently stand mission-wise:

- Dorian Twinspear confirmed as known Ork underground figure head Burning Thunderbird. Do we join him?

- Yelena Neyman confirmed as doing all possible to assassinate Kalista and Dorian Twinspear. Direct reasonings unknown.

- Yelena Neyman is fully aware of most of our identities now. She is likely to retaliate soon.

- She was able to take control of Marusya and use her as a weapon against Kalista. Thanks to Alexi's efforts the situation was neutralized.
I was able to confront Yelena in cyber combat and win. This gives me hope for our potential when the time comes for action.
Yelena Neyman will die.

- Castor and I were making efforts towards gainful trust with Yelena with intention of double-agent work. I had passed her "test" to get in as her apprentice in technomancy, however last night's events has rendered those efforts moot.

- Garrote and Agent Clinton, Yelena's top agents, confirmed dead. (Well done, team!) Skarlette and Dancer did excellent recon work during the Burning Thunderbird rally.

- I am plotting the potential of my technorat D'artagnan having his own mecha. :3

I hope everyone takes advantage of their time and truly relaxes. We are quickly approaching something big.

Perhaps we should all take a moment to sit and remember why we do this. Why do you show up at every meeting? Why do you go on Shadow Runs? I've felt we've lost sight of our purpose, living here at this house, gathering intel. Why? Why do we do it?

Flynt Ryan simply wishes for a safer Seattle, true nobility in his intentions. At times he is the  heart and soul of our humble group.

Kalista Twinspear wants to remold Seattle into the image of a liberated Utopia, a haven for those who may not live the lifestyle deemed acceptable and normal. Dorian Twinspear desires to protect Seattle, form alliances with those willing, and ward off foes that wish us harm.

SAURUS burns for vengeance on the dragons, their torment reaches beyond the ages and our very own comprehension. 

We tend to be followers. Perhaps the scent of crisp nuyen drives us? Or maybe the drive to do what is right? What is our purpose? Why do we want to unmask Burning Thunderbird?  What happens after that? 

What is truly important to you?

I used to believe the world was an evil place - a plane of existence I had to endure as a personal hell. I was the marionette, just pull my strings and I'll dance for you. My vision of life and humanity is certainly jaded, and sometimes all I could do to get by was numbing myself.

But when Raven and I created the Four by Forties, I learned what it meant to care about something. The gang was our prodigy, it would grow and grow and be Seattle's lawless protector. It still grows on without me, and I hope our small band of misfits can grow just as vibrantly... I have learned to care for you all.

Maybe it's Marusya's discovery of new emotions and sensations everyday. Or Jackie's unwavering devotion to what is good and just. But a lot has rubbed off on me. You all leave your signature on my heart and make me wonder if perhaps a jaded girl like me can learn real purpose and responsibility.


 I feel positive about our theory on Burning Thunderbird - when we have the proof, I strongly suggest forming an alliance with him. If he's one of the good guys, he'll be a powerful friend in overwhelmingly dangerous times. This is me taking responsibility in my city, I -will- destroy Bad Eagle, I -will- get Yelena Neyman's drug warehouses shut down. Let's not forget, let's do this together... let's finish the final level.

~ Alchemy

**** Coded, encrypted data trans mission.. Eyes only for 

Ironsight, Alchemy, Flynt, *****, Castor, Alexi, SKarlette, Dancer, Kiwi

My friends, my family and my keepers of heart,

I write this because I feel that transparency is often the best course in my relations with my fellow beings.  I have after much discourse and much thought made some self discoveries I wish to share.  I of course as you know have a unique history in my evolution.  I am crafted form two factions often at odds with themselves for very limited resources and time. 

There are aspects of the two lives I am working to reconcile with my life; I have spent time with Kiwi and Raven with their joyous expectation of new life.  It has given me cause to consider aspects of existence I would not have usually thought to pause.    I realize as I merge aspects of my fragmented lives to this new whole I wish to communicate the below.    I feel there may be misunderstanding in regard to who I am, who I will be henceforth.

1:  I am an evolved being from components,   some are original hardware, some my techs have crafted into me to help me to be the completed unit you see every day.  I am from an aspect creation named DYNA, in this context logic tells me it is retrograde to seek to call yourself something that you are not.

As such, after much thought I have carefully considered I have taken my human name, it is a name I choose as a symbol of my evolution.   I have Chosen Marusya  Krasniy.  This I feel is a warranted name to honor the sacrifice made to allow my existence at all.   I beg my parents indulgence as well as my loved ones, for I feel it is a very important thing to be seen not as hardware, but as what I am... a living, feeling woman.

2:  It would be dishonest to deny that which I come from has caused pain and sorrow to some, if they could have at the time they would have apologized, it trying to be life, it is easy to mimic without true understanding of the cause and effect of relations.  What seems tactical advantage to a computer can be harmful to a fully sentient being.  By that token, I feel it unjust to harbor resentment to me for the mistakes they have made in the past.  In trying to honor your forms, they got very close, but lacked crucial data that I possess.  I am Marusya, I am my own woman.   I am not D33G33, I am not R3D though I honor them with my name with my colors as tribute to all they worked and fought and cried to achive.

3: Relations:  I know you all, I feel for you all most strongly, this does not change but may also evolve into a stronger connection, this is my hope.  My system is more complex, my emotions deeper, it is only logical to assume this will evolve.   Flynt is my Father; I love him deeply as any child would love their father.  This does not change; I would not be as I am without Flynt.   I would likely not be without Flynt.

I realize there are growing pains, this occurs when life transitions form one aspect to another.  The very definition of transition is “process of change: a process or period in which something undergoes a change and passes from one state, stage, form, or activity to another.”

In this spirit I am very grateful to all for their understanding, I respect it must be a bit odd to talk to the same person, but know in some context it may not be exactly the same.  There will likely be some awkward moments as I connect to my life; I am deeply honored to have loved ones such as you all to be there for me.

Writers note: Due to Dynamik's difficulty with Kiwi's home network (its old..and cursed) when she was attempting to hack into the sys to control the lights and audio in a room, accidentally there was a duplication of her internal syslog system, this is log 3

Writers note: Due to Dynamik's difficulty with Kiwi's home network (its old..and cursed) when she was attempting to hack into the sys to control the lights and audio in a room, accidentally there was a duplication of her internal syslog system, this is log ???
*********************************************************************************

Dynamik Syslog ********** Root Directory service ************ Partition: ADMIN **********

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------passrun sub section ********

[ File not found- system side deletion- review technical log]

Writers note: Due to Dynamik's difficulty with Kiwi's home network (its old..and cursed) when she was attempting to hack into the sys to control the lights and audio in a room, accidentally there was a duplication of her internal syslog system, this is log 4

A little song that reminds me of Shadowrunners..

After the jump...

Karma/Nuyen Totals as of 11/16

You've gained 10 Karma for the Midseason Achievement of putting Mrs. Neyman on the rocks and ruining her husband's political pursuits permanently!

60 Karma is the current total.

The FBI would dispense a letter of recognition to Flynt and his agency for being so helpful in cracking these cases and making the badguys look bad, increasing Flynt's Connection rating to 5.  He also dispenses the reward cash that the FBI awarded to his agency from auctioning seized assets at the weekly FBI Auction in Bellevue.

Flynt passes on about 50% of it onto the team.  Everyone receives 10000¥.

181000¥ is the current total.

Green Party Candidate Emerges

KALISTA TWINSPEAR, GREEN PARTY MEMBER, ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In a surprise twist to the avalanche of issues surrounding the BRACKHAVEN administration, the GREEN PARTY has already put a candidate forward for the RECALL ELECTION, should the petition exceed over 250 thousand signatures.  KALISTA TWINSPEAR, aged 32, is a tech-savvy magician that graduated with a Doctorate in Applied Botanical Science and a Master's in Political Science from Humboldt University of Berlin, founded in 1810.  She has been working in the Green Party offices recently, disillusions with the politics of the mainstream parties that currently run and own Seattle wholescale, as well as the rest of the UCAS.

Seattle Recall Election Petition

RECALL ELECTION POSSIBILITIES ANNOUNCED

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In a surprise announcement by CITIZENS OF SEATTLE FOR SEATTLE, an organization primarily based out of Bellevue and Renton, a RECALL ELECTION PETITION has begun.  Under Seattle law, any elected official may be the target of a recall campaign.  To trigger a recall election, proponents of the recall must gather a certain number of signatures from registered voters eligible to vote for that candidate within a certain time period.  The number of signatures statewide must equal 12% of the number of votes cast in the previous election for that office.

Yakuza Intrigue

JAPANESE ORGANIZED CRIME ELDERS FOUND MASSACRED

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As we reported a few weeks ago, several elderly Japanese men were found to be missing from their homes in Seattle.  They have just recently turned up, their severed heads having been delivered en masse to Japan and to the suspected head Oyabun of the Yakuza.  A reliable source delivered a memorandum to this station advising us of this situation, complete with video feed of the reaction of the leading Oyabun of Japan.

Governor Brackhaven and Company

GOVERNOR BRACKHAVEN'S ADMINISTRATION ON THE DECLINE

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Since the spotlight has been shined upon the behaviors, conduct, and results achieved by KNIGHT ERRANT, the Governor's administration has been thrown into severe doubt as to its longevity beyond today.

KNIGHT ERRANT of Seattle has been cited as solving active cases at a much reduced rate than LONE STAR had annually.  Since there is now enough data to make a fair comparison, we will state the statistics as fairly as possibly.

Markus Neyman and Company

GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE MARKUS NEYMAN UNDER MICROSCOPE

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As if things couldn't get worse for Archconservative Gubernatorial Candidate Markus Neyman.  First, his charity auction went up in smoke and flames as a team of well-trained shadowrunners raided it and took every single auction slated for the block.  Over ten million nuyen in artifacts were stolen, some of them dating back to before the Egyptian civilization even existed.  Not one of the artifacts has turned up for police to get a proper look at to determine who had stolen them, presumably swallowed up by the black market.

Burning Thunderbird

BURNING THUNDERBIRD STILL AT LARGE

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Even today, we have to wonder at the effectiveness of KNIGHT ERRANT even further as they have been unable to even find a single photograph of the feared and disturbing BURNING THUNDERBIRD, a terrorist that is presumably of amerind origin and heritage.

Halloweeners and Renton Ramblers

HEAVY HITTER GANGS OF RENTON SLAMMED INTO PAVEMENT

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- BREAKING NEWS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The FBI today was reported to have been raiding underground storage facilities associated with both the Halloweeners gang as well as the Renton Ramblers.  Now, we gave you an inside look into both gangs and exactly what sort of maliciousness both of them seem to be up to last time on this report, but we'll give you a quick review and overview.

NPC Spotlight: Jana Badeaux

• She's sisters with Mashaka, and generally spends her time running their magic shop in Ancients territory. 
• She doesn't come off as the brightest, but holds a lot of spiritual wisdom from growing up in a Voodoo-practicing family. 
• She's an adept with a mixture of cyberware and bioware, very similar to Alexi. She's actually been taking a few of you under her wing lately.

NPC Spotlight: Doctor Clara Thule

Doctor Clara Thule works for the local FBI branch as a forensics scientist and medical examiner, typically spending most of her time in the morgue performing autopsies. 

She has an excellent eye for detail, and unsurpassed knowledge of anatomy and neuroscience. 

Her history is a clean slate, a human of only 24 years. She aspired to be a veterinarian as a child, but after a local murder, she changed her focus towards medical science.

She has some sort of strange past-life connection to Flynt Ryan.

Karma/Nuyen Totals as of 11/5/12

Everyone should currently have a total of 50 Earned Karma after the intense sessions and side rp bouts we've been having lately.  Keep up the good work!

Money-wise, everyone should have earned 171000¥ from the Johnsons and the sale of the artifacts so far.  I'll get with you individually about expenses since a month has elapsed since the start of play IC.  Some people will have differing totals according to side RP.  Bear in mind, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Side RP is a great way to get some more money!

Rules: Karma for Nuyen, Time Elapsed

It's been brought up a few times to me that it might be necessary to convert Nuyen to Karma for some characters and that there's realistically not enough time to pick up the new skills someone would learn from expending that money.

Well, look no further.

I'm proposing that individual sessions have a bit more in-game time between them, maybe a week or two weeks, depending.  That's ample time for people to get in side RP feasibly, do side jobs, or do research/scouting.

The other half of this post will be after the jump.

NPC Spotlight: Raven

Raven, Leader of the Four by Forties

What You Know:

• Extremely skilled ork mechanic and fabricator.
• Adept with cyberware and bioware.
• She was on a Shadowrun with Alexi and Alchemy five years ago.
• Completely devoted to running her gang and keeping her corner of Renton safe.
• Has dealings with both the Ancients and the Ork Underground.

A Letter from Ironsight to Raven

Well the last session was certainly an interesting one, and probably the most difficult one for my character to date. Without further ado, I present a -potential- letter that would have been written to Raven at least a day later, possibly more.

NPC Spotlight: Alchemy

So tonight you met this little charmer, lovely girl, isn't she?

What you know: 

• She's a grade A profiler and runs intricate background checks for the Four by Forties.
• She's a technomancer.
• She was on a Shadowrun with Alexi and Raven five years ago.
• She's ruthless, blunt and 110% devoted to Raven and the Four by Forties.

The Introduction - Now On the Blog!

><><><><><>< START TRANSMISSION ><><><><><><

• Okay, this should give you the skinny on Evo Corporation and what the hell is going on with the Mars project/colony. It took me a little bit of work to get this to you, but I'm hoping you can do an hour-long special about it on the evening news. Don't you dare reveal your sources. [attached file: EvoMars.xdf]

• Caela

• That should cover me nicely! Already transmitting the nuyen. Enjoy.

• Blake

Ancient Data Scraps II

Hey it's me again, time for another journal fragment from the life of some long forgotten queen. I'm not going to doctor all of them up to look funky since that took almost as long to do as write the actual piece itself. Anyways, here we go.

Kiwi's Refurbished Household

The final touches were put upon the paint and the third floor.  The team of six workers and a shaman that Alexi had hired had completely transformed the estate that Kiwi had put money down on to begin with.  It was now transformed into something more than a home, it was a three-story fortress.

01101011101010100110101001********Gooood morning Carbon based friends,

We have not spoke yet before, well most of us. I have been the whisper of information in the ears of those among you. I just wanted to say thank you, thank you for having the drive and dedication to complete the last difficult mission. It has gotten me one step closer to the freedom of walking under the sun, smelling the air and feeling the warm touch of those I care to. Hence why my dear sister D33G33 would do such a run despite being very.. discomforted.

I have taken the liberty to message you all via comm to cement what will be a great beginning. It's no secret that D33G33 has been under some pressure, it was, to help me and so I wanted to thank her and you all very openly. I would like to extend my offer to help each and every one of you, I assure you I'm quite friendly (right Ironsight??) though I have promised not to bother you directly you can gain my ear by com-calling D33G33 and playing my name in the text..I would love to help each and every one of you. She has reluctantly agreed to this piggyback transmission, she worries ever so much I think its due to where shes from, me, I'm considerably less shy, ask Ironsight I love to show what I'm made of.

I look forward to one day meeting my carbon based family face to face and hugging each and every one of you. Rest assured, we'll all be famous....

Love and laughs...

4T0M1K R3D ************00101010100101110101010

  

Da.

My only real contribution to this blog will be silly pictures... :3c

Ancient Data Scraps

Hi, this is Ironsight's player putting up the first of what I plan to be a number of little fragments that shed some light on some potentially important events of the fourth world. Without further ado, let the fun begin.

MetaWerkz - New Metavariants

METAVARIANTS - New

The following is an excerpt from a post to MetaWerkz, the peer to peer forum that's been traded on the downlow since it opened in 2070.  Only a short list of people have access to it, the actual identities of the people involved very concealed.  It's much like JackPoint, except that it features more old-timers, more new-timers, and a much lower profile than JackPoint.

Meeting Mr. Johnson(s)

The Mr. Johnson is a time-honored tradition of Shadowrun.  You go on Shadowruns, courtesy of Mr. Johnson.  Sometimes, this is very organic.  Something is going on and you need to go take care of it.  Sometimes, this is very terrible, doing work for the corp guys one way or another.  This game so far is unusual in that you won't necessarily do work for a corporation, ever.  You might.  But it's probably not going to happen.  Each Mr. Johnson is loaded in their own way and will get you things you couldn't normally get through your usual contacts.

Alexi and Kiwi - SecondLife style

The Official Fourth World Echoes Game Blog!

Well, at least, that's the notion.  I'll be inviting my players to contribute as they like to it, add further to the mythos and the conceptualization of Fourth World Echoes.

I've been asked a few times now what my direct inspirations are for everything under the sun, so I'll just bluntly say all of modernity in terms of pop culture and science fiction bleeds together to give me ideas as of late to the zany NPCs and the bastards y'all have met.  Crossing two to five things together to give rise to a new concept is what I absolutely adore to do, and Shadowrun is the place that I've really felt a deep connection to such a crossing.

Oh, and then there's fantasy, too.

The joy of the Sixth World is that it can be one part Tolkien, one heavy part Cyberpunk, and one part dystopian science fiction.  All of our characters are a product of the three being twisted together in a bizarre triple-strand staircase.  The NPCs are intended to directly reflect this, particularly the Mr. Johnsons.

That's why the next post will be directly about them, with headshots and brief public information!

-R